After seeing a Christmas show, Max decides he’d like to write a play, so he asks D.J. Lucas to help him. At the same time, he has to cope with a bossy, talkative babysitter and a new man in his mother’s life. Little by little Max comes to terms with sharing his mother, and his play reveals some of the turmoil in his life.
Europe
Materials from Europe
Kite
Taylor loves birds and collects eggs. He has the rare opportunity to enhance his collection when a pair of red kites nest nearby. The only problem is, the red kites are extremely rare – only twenty-five are left in the country. Taylor’s father, a gamekeeper, is under orders from his boss, the landowner Reg Harris, to kill the kites, who are birds of prey and will go after Harris’s grouse population. For Taylor, the temptation also to take the eggs from the kites’ nest becomes insurmountable when Harris actually asks him to do the job, even though it is illegal. Pangs of terrible guilt follow, and although Taylor tells Harris he’s gotten rid of the incriminating evidence, he secretly salvages and hatches one egg. But as soon as the bird is born, elaborate plans must be made to keep its existence a secret in order to save it from being shot during the approaching hunting season.
So Cozy
When Dog’s bed looks so inviting to his numerous animal friends that a teetering pileup of coziness ensues, a sneeze triggered by Mouse’s presence on Elephant’s trunk temporarily frightens everyone away.
Good Night, Firefly
When the power goes off one night, Nina conquers her fear of the dark by going out and trapping one of the fireflies lighting up the sky, and she has fun playing with him until she realizes his light is growing ever dimmer and she must set him free.
City Kitty Cat
A witty, city kitty goes on a wild journey in this lively picture book illustrated with a retro vibe and discovers that there’s no place like home! City Kitty Cat loves driving his cab through the city, visiting museums and eating at fancy restaurants. But then he makes some new friends who convince him to join them in their wild home. Can a city kitty call the jungle home sweet home?
There’s A Lion In My Cornflakes
If you ever see a box of cornflakes offering a free lion, ignore it. This is the story of two brothers who didn’t and then ended up with a grizzly bear, a cranky old crocodile, and a huge gorilla, instead. Anything can happen in this wildly wacky tale.
Pedro And George
Pedro and George are fed up with the children of the world getting them confused. Pedro is a crocodile, and George is an alligator. There’s a difference, you know. This determined pair decides to go on a mission to prove who’s who, once and for all.
The Other Side Of the Wall
Simon Schwartz was born in 1982 in East Germany, at a time when the repressive Socialist Unity Party of Germany controlled the area. Shortly before Simon’s birth, his parents decided to leave their home in search of greater freedoms on the other side of the Berlin Wall. But East German authorities did not allow the Schwartzes to leave for almost three years. In the meantime, Simon’s parents struggled with the costs of their decision: the loss of work, the attention of the East German secret police and the fragmentation of their family.
The Magic Cane
A prophecy and a broken cane given to him in his childhood help a simple peasant and his children, who have power over wind, fire, and water, to defeat a wicked emperor who was once the peasant’s friend.
Nuts in Space
An elite crew has finally found the Lost Nuts of Legend. Now all they have to do is go home. Everyone is starving, the Star Nav is broken, the neighbors are distinctly unfriendly, and it was a really bad idea to stop at the Death Banana and ask for directions.